When your garage is packed with eleven BMW motorcycles spanning seven decades—and you have no car—it’s safe to say that your hobby has morphed into an obsession. So what do you do when simply collecting bikes isn’t enough? That’s easy: you start customizing them.

Meet Mark Johnston—a trained mechanical engineer who now works as a computer security specialist in Cape Town, South Africa. And this Mark’s first custom project: one of the most meticulous airhead builds we’ve ever seen.

Mark’s garage includes a 1952 R67/2, a kitted R80G/S and even an HP2, but it was his 1980 R100RT that went under the knife. “I like all BMWs,” he says, “but the RT is the lowest on the list, so didn’t feel too bad chopping it up.”

“I bought the bike locally—she was running, but had seen better days for sure.…

Bike EXIF is an online magazine that showcases the coolest motorcycles, several days a week. That means customs and cafe racers, race bikes, concept motorcycles and style icons.
Founded by Chris Hunter in 2008, the site attracts contributions from world-class motorcycle journalists such as David Edwards (USA) and Gary Inman (UK), and leading builders such as Richard Pollock (Mule Motorcycles) and John Ryland (Classified Moto).